Season 2 Ep. 6: Cory Bernstine Talks Sports Marketing

What Can Sports Marketing Tell Us About Engagement?

Hosted by Tyler Freeland

“As a sport property, you need to diversify the way you engage with your fans – not only to drive community and build fandom, but also to drive revenue, you have to diversify away from being solely reliant on the game day experience.” – Cory Bernstine

On this episode of the Brand X Cleveland Podcast, host, Tyler Freeland sits down with Senior Director of Strategy at United Soccer League (USL), Adweek executive mentee and adjunct professor at the University of South Florida, Cory Bernstine. During this fantastic conversation, Cory and Tyler, along with special guest, Charlene Coughlin, discuss all things related to sports: marketing, fan development, fan experience, advertising and social/cultural impact – and of course, Cleveland.

More than just an exciting live event or the experience of watchingtwo teams compete, Cory’s perspective on sports digs a little deeper. For him, sports are a confluence of community (culture and social change) and relationship (attending the game, buying the jersey, or watching at a local bar) and how we can use sports to drive and improve both.

“I think based on the personal story I had growing up, but then also the fact that you have the ability and responsibility to actually create some positive change through your platform – sports has kind of fit really nicely within that intersection.”— Cory Bernstine

“Cory was one of two guys in our women's group. And that spoke volumes to all of the women in the group that he was willing to, you know, get in a room with 30 plus Type A women who want to blaze trails for other women. And he really spoke up on behalf of the HeForShe Movement.” – Charlene Coughlin

Along with the important topics surrounding sports and culture today, throughout the episode Cory drives home a lot of good ideas and awesome tips regarding fan development and fan experience – pushing clients to think outside the stands and on the consumer and into the community.

Advice for business owners while listening to this episode: Think of your store, restaurant, or website as a stadium, your brand as a sports team and how you’re currently providing the experience and engagement to keep the fans (customers) coming to the game.

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